Livescribe Pen (Pulse)

What is it?
· The Pulse smartpen is about the size and weight of a large pen, and has a removable ball-point ink cartridge, a microphone to record audio, a speaker for playback, a small digital display, and internal flash memory that captures handwritten notes, audio and drawings.
· The consumer can choose to record audio and/or handwritten text. The recorded audio is kept and indexed with the handwritten text - tapping on a written word starts playback of the recorded audio from that part of the recording.
· The pen is available with either 2 or 4 Gigabytes of flash storage. The 2 GB model holds about 200 hours of audio depending on recording quality settings. The US retail price is $199.95 for the 4 GB model.
· The Pulse allows the installation of as many applications as there is memory, and ships with several applications. If tapped on the correct images, it can function as a calculator, for example, or can translate words (the translator software as shipped includes only 21 words in a small selection of languages).

How can you use it?
· This would be a great addition to any special needs program.
· Teachers can supply this product to students with visual, auditory, and other disabilities and it can assist in the development of many different skills.
· I am sure that this product can be used in general education classes but I find that this can be more applicable in a special needs setting.

Why would you use it?

· For students with auditory disabilities they would be able to use the pen to trace words that they would like to say. This could possibly be used to download the audio that was recorded and can be changed into PDF text.
· Pros
    • Small
    • Resourceful
    • Many different capabilities
· Cons
    • Expensive
    • Learning curve
    • Only can be used in certain circumstances.
· NETS- 1-6

References

· Livescribe Pen